The present invention relates generally to information processing systems and more particularly to a methodology and implementation for processing network related transactions including data download requests.
Although the present disclosure is discussed in terms of the Internet, it is understood that the invention is applicable to servers in any networked system in which data is requested, and also to individual workstations or personal computers (PCs) which directly access remote sites to download data. In large network systems such as the Internet, network terminal users are able to designate network sites by address, typically through a browser program at the user terminal, and to effect a connection to the site designated. When the connection is made, the user views a screen or homepage which is made available by the administrator or owner of the designated site. The user may then select other sites or addresses directly by keyboard input or by xe2x80x9cpointing and clickingxe2x80x9d a mouse or other pointing device on various xe2x80x9chypertextxe2x80x9d or Icon areas on the screen. In this manner, network users are able to request access to network sites which have data files in which the user is interested at a particular time.
In many systems, a network server is utilized to manage a smaller or local network, and access requests from users of the local network to remote or Internet sites. In any case, when many requests occur at the same time, the available bandwidth at any given time is quickly used up and processing time is significantly reduced as many transactions are requested using the same limited access resources.
Thus, there is a need for an improved methodology and implementing system which enables a more efficient use of available bandwidth for systems in which there is frequent accessing and downloading of often-requested data files and libraries.
A method and implementing computer system is provided in which network site and/or data requests are kept track of in terms of the number of times the same data or site request is presented. In one example, when the request frequency for any particular data file reaches a predetermined number, or when a frequently requested data file is sufficiently large as to significantly impact the network bandwidth, the data file requested is marked for download during off-peak hours to a local non-volatile storage device such that subsequent user requests for that data item may be serviced directly from a local server or local storage device more proximate to the requesting user, thereby reducing overall bandwidth use for frequently requested data.